


Falling for You

by TheWalking100



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Endgame Clarke Griffin/Lexa, F/F, Minor Anya/Raven Reyes, One Shot, POV Clarke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-06-08 02:55:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15233805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWalking100/pseuds/TheWalking100
Summary: Clarke goes downhill longboarding with Raven and Octavia. It was suppose to be a chill and fun time. It started out that way, but she ends up wiping out and finds a green eyed brunette kneeling above her.Collection of one shots now.





	1. Downhill

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic. I don't know what I'm doing, but I wrote this. Also, I suck at flirting.

I took in the view as we were about to start our raw run. It's autumn and the trees surrounding the road were the perfect blend of orange, gold, and red. The sun light present at golden hour perfected the image as it accentuated the colors more and gave a beautiful glow. I looked down the hill we were standing on and my eyes followed the snaking road down it. I inhaled the fresh air as a breeze passed through and listened to the peaceful sounds of leaves russ--- "RAVEN, GIVE ME MY GO-PRO BACK!"

That was a record time of ten seconds of peace. I looked back to see Raven evading Octavia's attempts of snatching back her camera.

"I will give it back once you admit that you're hardcore crushing on Anya's hottie with a body cousin, Lincoln," Raven explained as she pulled the go-pro away from Octavia's grasp.

"I'll admit it if you admit that you're crushing on Anya," Octavia retorted.

Both of their movements stop as they stared each other down. They continued staring at each other as Raven silently handed her the go-pro and Octavia received it with a smug smile.

I butted into their staring contest, "Glad that's settle then. You guys ready to go?"

"Hang on. Let me strap my go-pro back on my helmet that Raven so rudely tore off." Octavia sent Raven a death glare.

Raven looked to Clarke, "You know Clarke, it's been a while since you were in the dating game. When are you going to get back at it?"

"When I find someone who makes me want to get back at it." I put on my gloves and grabbed my helmet.

Raven didn't settle for that answer. "Maybe you need a little push. After all, I don't think you will be going out of your way to date anytime soon with being in med-school."

I picked Raven's helmet up from the ground and threw it lightly at her chest. "I found the time to come out here. Maybe I should give you and Octavia a push to make a move on the people who have been occupying a majority of our conversations lately," I said with a crooked smile and raised eyebrow.

"Don't give me that look. I am perfectly capable of making moves."

"No you're not," said Octavia who now carried a helmet with a nicely strapped in go-pro. "You've been tripping over yourself in her presence way longer than I have with Lincoln."

Sensing another bickering fight about to happen, I cut in. "Before you guys start fighting again, can we at least make it to the bottom of the hill first?"

"Alright. I say we make this downhill a bit more interesting. Loser should have to do something," Raven said.

Octavia had the perfect idea. "Whoever loses has to ask out their crush."

It was a logical consequence for Octavia and Raven, but not for me. "Hey, what about me? I'm crushless over here."

Raven had a widening grin. "If you lose, then we get to set you up on a blind date."

"Deal." The only reason I was so quick to agree is because I know that I won't lose. I'm pretty confident in my downhill longboarding ability.

We all put on our helmets, each completely covering our heads due to the high speeds we reach. I grabbed by board and we all lined up next to each other. I placed my foot over the trucks. We gave each other glances, then faced forward, and I counted off. "Three... two... ONE!" And we were off.

We were all furiously pumping our legs and then as we gained enough speed brought our second leg onto the board. I crouched low, becoming as aerodynamic as possible. We followed in line, with Raven in the lead, me in second, and Octavia last. We came to our first curve and took it easy. It was followed by a straightaway where I started to gain speed. As I approached Raven, I reached out my hand to touch her interlocked hands that rested just above her butt, so that I didn't hit her and to let her know that I was going to pass.

I took the lead. I watched as the cars on the opposite side of the double yellow lines whizzed by us. I then had to bring my attention to the S curve coming up. I leaned to my left and put my hand down. The sound of the hard pads under my palm scraping against the road broke through the sound of wind. I was still going too fast, so in order to slow down a little, I kicked out my back wheels slightly. Once I slowed enough, I brought them back in and prepared for the next curve going in the opposite direction. I coasted around it easily.

It went into another straightaway where I was suddenly passed by Octavia. We reached another curve. We hugged the right side. I could see Raven creeping up on my left so when we hit the next straightaway I dropped my body into an even lower crouch. I was starting to feel the burn in my legs. I began to gain more speed. I passed Octavia giving her a light touch on her back so she knew I was coming up on her side. I passed her and took my lead again.

We were coming up to the final curve of the hill that was followed by a short straightaway that signaled the finish.

In the distance was a car in our lane that was going slower than us. We made a move to the lane where opposite traffic ran. We went around the curve and began transitioning into the last straightaway. Just as we were approaching the car that was originally in our lane, a car in the lane we now occupied came around the end of the curve. I quickly tried to swerve out of the way of both cars. I planned on squeezing between both cars because there seemed to be enough room and it was either that or eat the grass with a possibility of a tree on the side of the road. The first option sounded more appetizing.

I tried aiming for the gap between the cars, hoping that Raven and Octavia followed my lead. The gap was smaller than I thought causing me to stand straighter. A new surge of adrenaline shot through my body as I felt the wind from both cars grazed my clothes. I let out a loud whoop after I made it through.

The next thing I know, Octavia lost control and ran into me. She hit the back of my board and it slid out from under me. I went flying forward and landed mostly on my right side. I slid for a good fifteen feet and then rolled. I was able to catch myself on my padded hands that let out a loud clap against the road. Unfortunately the sliding didn't end there. Of course it wouldn't. We were going faster than cars and that's just how my life goes.

I slid to the edge of the road where I continued into the grass. The friction of the grass caught me and I rolled to a stop between two trees. At least one thing went my way. I turned onto my back with a groan and looked to the branches above me. I heard Raven ride by as she tried to slow down. I turned to my right to see Octavia standing up from her fall in the middle of the road.

Raven and Octavia ran up to me on either side.

Raven beat Octavia to it. "Holy shit! Are you ok Clarke?" Which was quickly followed by a frantic Octavia. "I'm so sorry Clarke! I stood up more than I should've and got speed wobbles. Please tell me you're ok."

"I feel great, " I wheezed out.

I may have missed hitting the cars, but it doesn't feel that way, not to mention the road rash. Great day to wear a short sleeve shirt, Clarke. I'm smart enough to get into med-school, but not smart enough to think to wear a long sleeve shirt when downhill longboarding.

I looked down at myself and saw tears covering the right side of my shirt and some of my pants.

All of the sudden another voice filled the air. I directed my attention to it and noticed that the car we passed had stopped near us. Two people came running up to us.

"Are you guy ok? We saw the whole thing happen. Do you need an ambulance?"

I then realized that we knew one of the people approaching us. Lucky for Raven, it was Anya trailed by an unfamiliar brunette.

My adrenaline was slowly leaving my system. I noticed pain in my right wrist and the burning from the road rash that covered my side was becoming more prominent. With this much road rash and a potentially broken wrist I knew it would be the best for me to go to the hospital.

"I think an ambulance would be nice, thanks for asking," I replied with a sarcastically upbeat tone.

"At least her humor didn't break from that wipe out," Raven directed at Octavia who still felt bad about the whole thing. It was obvious to me that Raven was trying to avoid eye contact with Anya in order to try to keep cool.

Knowing that I didn't hit my head or experience anything that could give me whiplash, I took my helmet off. I was greeted with the brightest green eyes. My eyes wandered to to an equally as beautiful face. My gazed returned back to her eyes. I continued to stare at them until I realized that the owner to those green eyes was talking to me.

"What was that?" I said in almost a whisper.

Octavia leaned over to Raven and whispered, "I think Clarke finally found a crush." Raven let out a small chuckle.

I decided to ignore them and you would to if someone this beautiful was kneeling over you.

"I said that my friend here has gotten into her fair share of motorcycle accidents and I've been through enough of them to know a little something about first aid that could hold over until the EMTs get here. If you would allow me to help."

I smirked and said, "I know a little about first aid too," She didn't need to know that I was med-student who was most likely a little more knowledgeable in first aid than her. My smile faded slightly. "But seeing as everything hurts right now, I can't do much. So first aid away."

A look of concern crossed her face and she asked, "Where does it hurt?"

"The road rash is the worst of the pain right now, but I may have broken my wrist." The pain in my wrist was increasing and it throbbed more each minute. Blood from the scrapes on my side started seeping through my shirt, or what was left of it.

She followed up with more questions. "Did you hit your head? Do you have any pain along your spine?"

"Nope. I think I just need my scrapes cleaned and an x-ray on my wrist. By the way, I don't think I caught your name."

"It's Lexa." She gave a gentle smile which I found myself returning.

"That's a lovely name, Lexa. I'm Clarke." It truly was a lovely name. It rolled perfectly off my tongue and I don't think I could ever get tired of saying it.

Her smile stretched a little wider. I could hear Raven gag in the background but I again chose to ignore her.

As beautiful as the view of Lexa kneeling over me was, I wanted to sit up to relive some of the burning from the scrapes on my back. As soon as I tried sitting up, her hands rushed to my back for support, making sure not to touch my wrist. Her hand stayed on my back as I inspected my road rash more. I lifted my shirt and saw that my stomach was pretty scuffed up.

"Dang. I really ate it."

Octavia chimed in, "If it makes you feel any better, I filmed the whole thing." Her response was a smack on the back of the head by Raven.

I then looked at my elbow, which clearly had the worst of the fall. The blood was dripping down my arm and the scrape went a little deeper than I'm comfortable with.

Anya, who had been on the phone with 911 the whole time, hung up her phone and said, "They should be here soon." Her attention was then taken by Raven and Octavia bickering about something again. My attention turned back to Lexa.

"So Clarke, do you find yourself in these types of situations often?" asked Lexa. The way she said my name sent chills down my back and her slightly upturned lips made me want to kiss her right then and there.

"No. It's not often that I find myself with a gorgeous women kneeling over me with a look of concern that made me feel like I had known her my whole life." I internally cringed at how cheesy that sounded, but it had naturally poured out of my mouth. To my surprise, however, it made her blush.

"I guess today is your lucky day then," she responded with bashful smile. I returned her smile.

"How have we never met before? My friends and I have been hanging out with Anya for a while," I said, meeting her bright green eyes.

"I just moved to the area recently. I've been friends with Anya for years and I kept in touch with her via Skype and texting. So it's nice to be close to her again and I think that I'll be happy to be close to some more people in the future. That is, if we can see each other again." Her shy smile returned accompanied with a look of hope in her eyes.

Now it was my turn to blush, knowing that she wants to see me more. My confidence shrunk slightly. "I think that can be arranged," I said with a smirk. "How about after all this first aid and hospital business is over with?"

"That sounds like a plan." She had a gentle smile that made my mind blank. "I think you would need my number in order to work out the details."

"Uh, yes, that would be smart." I reached for my phone only to find that the screen had been shattered from my fall. "Great..." My face turned unamused and I clicked the home button. It miraculously came to life and I could still make out what was behind the cracks. Lexa seemed amused by facial expression.

"Looks like I'll need a new phone, but it'll do for now." I handed her my phone. She put in her number. Just as she finished, the ambulance rolled up.

Octavia and Raven stopped bickering and everyone's attention went to the EMTs that were approaching.

Lexa looked at me and gave my uninjured arm a reassuring squeeze and said, "I hope our next meeting has a bit less ambulances and injuries. I'll be waiting for you to give me those details." She smirked and backed away to give the EMTs room.

The EMTs did their thing. They splinted my wrist and put me me on the gurney. They wheeled me to the back of the ambulance. Octavia and Raven approached.

"I'll ride with Clarke since I kind of caused all of this," Octavia volunteered.

"Don't beat yourself up Octavia. Too many things happened in that moment for the blame to be on you." I looked at Octavia and she nodded her head.

"How am I suppose to get to the top of the hill. That's a long walk." Raven stared wearily at the steep incline.

"I can drive you up." We turned and looked at Anya who had volunteered. Octavia and I looked at each other and grinned. Raven gulped and said, "Ok, thanks."

Before Raven could walk away, I grabbed her arm. "By the way, you lost the race. Think about how you're going to ask her out."

Octavia started laughing as Raven walked away with a red face and her shoulders up to her ears.


	2. Grounders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally suppose to just be a one-shot, but some people wanted more. I also enjoyed writing this one. So, now I'm thinking that I'll randomly add little snippets of their life every now and then.

It has been about a week since my longboarding accident. My arm was indeed broken and now I sport a lovely cast that ends just short of my elbow. All my scrapes were still red and angry and were just starting to fully scab over.

However, these injuries were not what had been bothering me all week. I currently sat on the couch in my apartment, looking at my phone. Displayed on the phone screen was Lexa’s phone number.

When I had first met her, I was on the ground in pain with adrenaline pumping through my body. It was easy to talk to her and any nerves that normally would have been present weren’t. There were too many things to focus on. Now that I sit alone in my apartment, just looking at her name makes butterflies appear in my stomach. In fact, since I got out of the hospital, every time I think of her, I can’t help but get nervous. Whether it was her piercing green eyes or the confidence she wore, I don’t know, but I feel that she is out of my league. Her beauty intimidates me and when I am not in such painful situations, I tend to turn into an idiot around my crushes.

I have yet to contact her. It is a bit rude on my part. She has probably been waiting for me to text her or call her, but all she has gotten is silence… or maybe she’s forgotten about me. Maybe she was flirting with me to get my mind off the pain. She said she had been through accidents with Anya. She could’ve mastered the distraction tactic so I didn’t freak out from the pain.

Before my mind could wander to more depressing thoughts, they were disrupted by the sound of a key being inserted into the lock of my apartment door. It opened and Raven and Octavia marched in. They went straight for my kitchen and raided it.

“I didn’t give you guys a key so you could barge in whenever you feel like it.” I wasn’t really bothered by them waltzing in or raiding my kitchen. We all do it at each others’ places and I don’t mind sharing.

“And you didn’t get Lexa’s number just to stare at it,” Raven retorted.

Octavia’s mouth dropped wide open. “Shots fired.”

I clenched my jaw and narrowed my eyes at Raven. “How’s asking Anya out coming along? I heard it was a pretty silent ride back to our car at the top of the hill.”

I caught her off guard with that one. She hesitated to answer. “Well, Lexa was in the car too. I didn’t want to make her feel awkward.”

Octavia groaned. “Stop making excuses. You lost fair and square. You have to ask her.”

“I will eventually,” Raven said in a low voice, more to herself than to us.

“How about we discuss some ideas on how to ask her out over lunch,” I suggested.

Right on cue, Raven’s stomach growled. “Sounds good.”

 

***

 

We walked into our usual hangout spot, Grounders. It was a small cafe type place that is surprisingly known best for its sandwiches and hot chocolate in the winter.

We ordered our food at the counter and took a seat at a booth that hugged the windows on the right side. Raven and I sat across from each other on the outside. Octavia sat between the window and I. It gave us a good view of the park that was across the street.

Our food arrived and we ate mostly in silence because everyone was starving. When we were close to finishing our food, the conversation picked up. Octavia and I suggested multiple ideas on how she could ask Anya out, each one getting more and more ridiculous.

“You could light ‘Will you go out with me?’ on fire and then ride through it on a motorcycle doing a wheelie. There’s no way she would say no to that,” Octavia suggested.

“No freaking way. If I’m going to ask her out, I would like to be alive for the date.” Raven did not look amused.

“You’re an engineer. You can probably build a rocket and have it blast off, spelling stuff out in the sky. That way, you’ll show her how original, smart, and resourceful you are.” My suggestion wasn’t any better than Octavia’s.

Raven didn’t respond. She just let her head fall forward onto the table with a thud.

The bell, indicating that someone walked in, rang, and Octavia and I instinctively looked to the entrance.

“Hey, Ray, you better pick out one of our suggestions because Anya just walked in.” When Raven didn’t respond, Octavia repeatedly poked her head. Raven continued to ignore her.

My attention was on the person that followed Anya in. It was Lexa, looking impossibly more gorgeous than when she was kneeling over me a week ago. Her hair was down, cascading over her shoulders. She was in black skinny jeans and a dark green t-shirt that had holes on both shoulders, leaving her tanned skin exposed. The color of her shirt brought out the green of her eyes. My breath caught in my throat.

Last time we met, I hadn’t been able to fully take her in with being injured and all. Now that I gave her a full up-down, the butterflies that usually invaded my stomach when I thought about her, doubled.

I slid down in my seat, ducking under the table.

“Yo, great idea.” Raven followed me.

We both sat crouched under the table, hoping they wouldn’t notice us. Thanks to Octavia, that wasn’t possible.

“What are you idiots doing?” She grabbed my arm trying to pull me up. I refused and slapped her hand off me.

She turned her attention away from us. “Hey, Anya. Lexa.” She called them over. “Come sit over here. Raven and Clarke are here too.”

At the mention of our names, Raven and I looked at each other, knowing the gig was up. Their legs came into view as they stood in front of the table. We both came out from under the table and simultaneously hit our heads. The combined hits sent out an echoing thud. We both clutched the back of our heads, faces burning red. Anya and Lexa both had their hands covering their mouths in concern.

“Are you guys okay?” asked Lexa.

We mumbled answers assuring her that we were okay.

Anya raised one eyebrow and asked, “What were you guys doing under there?”

We both responded at the same time.

“Dropped a-”

“Fork.”

“Spoon.”

Our faces burned an even brighter red.

Octavia had to make the situation worse. “So, where’s the spork at? Still on the floor?”

I thought I’d die from embarrassment right then and there. Raven didn’t look any better. We didn’t dare answer, afraid we would embarrass ourselves further.

“Okay…” Anya said.

Anya scooted into the booth next to Raven and Lexa pulled up a chair on the end. Our elbows grazed each other’s on the table. Octavia had a smug look. I instantly knew that she planned to have them meet us here. We are soooo going to get her back.

“How are you feeling, Clarke?” Lexa said, eyeing my cast and scrapes, looking a little concerned. The way she said my name sent chills down my back.

“I’m good. Broken wrist, a few scrapes nothing too bad.” I tried sounding nonchalant, but the truth was I was beyond nervous to be sitting right next to Lexa.

Her eyes searched me, a question hidden beneath them and I think I know what question. I couldn’t answer her right now, maybe when we are alone.

I looked over to Raven, Octavia, and Anya. They were distracted, talking to each other, Raven throwing shade at Octavia occasionally. She probably figured out that this was Octavia’s doing.

I turned back to Lexa. “Want to go for a walk?” I gestured to the park across the street.

A bashful smile grew on her face. She nodded.

We walked the first few minutes in silence, neither of us knowing what to say. Lexa was the first to break it. “You didn’t get back to me on those details.” There was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“You’re right and I feel bad… The truth is, I really wanted to call you, but I couldn’t find the courage to. When we first met, I was in pain and you were there kneeling over me and you looked absolutely beautiful, like an angel with the the sunlight outlining you. Point is, I had a lot of adrenaline in me which kept my stupidity in check and then I got home and kept thinking of you and the more I thought of you, the more nervous I got because you’re really pretty and probably out of my league and you don’t want to see me in front of my crushes. I turn into a clutz and end up humiliating myself. I already did that earlier and I don’t want to look even stupider in front of you.” The whole thing came out in one breath, fast, so fast that I wasn’t sure Lexa caught all of that.

I ended with, “You make me nervous.”

Lexa stood there, slack jawed, trying to process everything I had just said. A blush was present on her cheeks. When she caught up to my words, a huge smile appeared on her face. “First off, the only stupid part about you is thinking that you are out of my league. I mean, have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror? Second, I find it very endearing that I make you nervous and I hope that you feel the same way because you make me nervous too.”

I make _her_ nervous? I wanted to laugh with happiness, but I didn’t. She felt the same way about me. I had freaked myself out so much in the past week, blew things out of proportion. I was an idiot.

I smiled at her and blushed. “How about we get past our nerves by getting to know each other.”

We walked deeper into the park, discussing many topics. We talked about families, our careers, our desires in life, and even cliche surface level questions like ‘What’s your favorite color’.

I found out that one of her hobbies is practicing various different types of martial arts. I asked if she could kill me in six different ways with just her pinky.

She laughed. “Probably. Is that a problem?”

I shook my head no. “Good thing I’m becoming a doctor.”

She playfully pushed me.

We discussed anything and everything. The more we talked, the more comfortable I became around her.

It was incredibly easy to talk to her. It was like I had known her my whole life, like I was talking to an old friend I hadn’t seen in years.

We arrived at a lake in the heart of the park and sat on its edge. We had to have been talking for hours because the sun was beginning to set, its orange glow reflecting off the clouds and lake. Currently, we were exchanging childhood stories, mine mostly including Octavia and Raven and hers with Anya and Lincoln.

I was finishing my story about how Raven lost the bottom half of her swimsuit in the ocean one summer. “So, I found the biggest leaves I could find and handed them to Raven. She looked absolutely appalled at the idea, but there was nothing else we could do. So we ran all the way back to the car with Raven holding two pieces of leaves covering her front and back.”

Both of us broke off into laughter at how ridiculous the whole situation was.

She recovered first. “I wish that I was friends with you guys back then. You seem like you got yourselves into equally as ridiculous situations all the time. It sounds fun.”

“Oh don’t worry, we still get into just as stupidly ridiculous things just as often as we did back then. You’ve only missed a small fraction of what is to come.” We both wore easy going smiles. I couldn’t remember a time when I was this relaxed and happy.

We were interrupted by Lexa’s phone going off, indicating that she got a text. She pulled it out of her pocket. “It’s Anya wondering where I am.” She sent back a quick reply.

“We should head back then,” I suggested. We stood up and faced each other.

“Would you say I still make you nervous?” She looked at me in a way that seemed like she was holding back something.

I let out a breathy laugh, slightly embarrassed I had confessed that. “Not so much anymore. How about you?”

“Not so much, but I have an idea how to finish off the last few butterflies.” She looked me directly in the eyes, a strong desire held in them.

Before I could respond, her lips were on mine. I kissed back, placing my hands on her hips while hers were cupping my face. I melted into her lips.

Too soon, she pulled back. Our foreheads rested on each others. Our breaths danced together.

“I think that the butterflies in my stomach just increased ten fold.” These butterflies were different though. They were butterflies of excitement. The kiss gave me excitement and adrenaline that no longboard race could. I didn’t mind if these butterflies stayed. The look on her face made me know that she felt the same way.

We walked back to Grounders, holding hands the whole way, continuing our childhood stories. When we got there, we were greeted with the sight of Anya and Raven, hands interlocked, standing out front in conversation. Octavia was just inside Grounders, looking like she was sniping a snapchat of Raven. She was probably going to tease her about it later.

“I take it Raven finally asked out Anya,” I said.

Lexa laughed. “Finally. Anya has mentioned about how she could tell Raven wanted to ask her out. She said that she would flirt extra with Raven. She wanted to watch her squirm, but also make her ask her out sooner.”

I laughed. I kind of wished we had stayed with them so I could have witnessed it. I would have to get the whole story from Octavia later.

“You two look close,” Lexa said as we approached them. They both blushed.

Octavia joined us and whispered to me, “I’ll tell you all about it later.”

We said our goodbyes. “I will definitely text you this time. Don’t worry,” I assured Lexa.

Lexa didn’t doubt I would. She kissed me on the cheek before her and Anya walked off in the opposite direction of us.  



	3. Motocross

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all know a little something about motocross

It was a hot and sunny day. We were all sitting in the dirt parking lot getting ready to ride. Ever since Raven and I met Anya, we’ve ridden dirt bikes with her every now and then. Octavia chose to stay out of it. She did have a fascination with motorcycles, but was always afraid to ride because of all the injury stories she’s heard.

Today was one of those days when we made our way down to the closest motocross track. It was also the day Raven and I would get back at Octavia for the little fiasco she planned at Grounders a month ago.

Raven and I weren’t expert riders, but we were pretty decent and always learning new things everytime we came out here. Anya you could consider an expert. She could smoke us easily. She had been riding most of her life and apparently Lexa used to join her occasionally.

I had yet to see Lexa ride and knew that when I did it would leave me hot and bothered. The past month with Lexa has been absolutely amazing. I have never been happier. I thought school would keep me too busy, but somehow I seemed to be able to most of the time make time for her while also managing my studies. Having her in my life makes me more capable of things. She definitely helps with lowering my stress too.

She’s someone I can lean on whenever I need to and I am that for her in return. Lexa reminds me to take breaks and breathe. I am so grateful to have her.

“Why did you guys force me here?” Octavia asked. “You know how I feel about this.”

Octavia was fidgeting nervously with her riding gear. 

“I told you not to worry. You’ll be taught everything and be riding like a pro in no time, but just in case, remember that I’m a med student. I can make some of your boo boos go away,” I said.

“You’ll love it, O,” Raven said.

“You’ll have a great teacher.” Anya winked at her.

Octavia thought her teacher was going to be Anya, but boy was she wrong. Anya’s comment made it seem like she was being cocky about her skills. In reality, she was in on the plan.

I hopped off the edge of the bed of my truck which used to hold two dirt bikes. I turned around to grab my gloves and put them on.

A hand slapped my butt and I looked to the offender to see that it was Lexa. She winked at me over her shoulder and said, “Get ready to eat my dust.” She continued walking over to her bike.

The thing about Lexa is that most of the time she was really sweet, quiet, and somewhat conservative, but then there were moments like these were she would let loose and do something that surprised me.

My jaw hung slightly open.

“Clarke will definitely eat other things, but she definitely won’t settle for dust,” Raven said.

Octavia smacked the back of her head at the implication she made.

Raven rubbed where she hit. “Ow. It was a joke. Calm down.”

“How can I when you dragged me out here?” Octavia replied.

“You’ll be thanking us later, trust me,” Raven said with a smirk.

Lexa walked over to me as she put her gloves on. I thought she couldn’t get anymore attractive, but I was wrong. She looked really fine in her gear, especially with her wavy hair flowing over her shoulders.

“Seriously though, I’m going to leave you in the dust,” she said.

I squared up to her. “How do you know? You’ve never seen me ride.”

“I’m pretty confident in my abilities.” Her smile went wider.

“You may be amazed at my skill level,” I said.

Her smile turned gentler. “You always amaze me.”

That made me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. I leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. 

I pulled back just enough so that our lips were just about grazing each other. I spoke low. “I’ve heard that the dust on this track doesn’t taste too bad. That’s good news for you.” 

I pulled back all the way and put my helmet and goggles on. Lexa was still processing what I had said. Then a competitive glint formed in her eye. She too put her helmet and goggles on.

“Wait, guys. I don’t know what I’m doing. Someone help me,” Octavia said.

“Speaking of help,” I said.

Someone rolled up on their bike, ready to ride. They came to a stop next to us and got off their bike, taking their helmet off. It was Lincoln.

Raven and I had texted him, telling him that Octavia didn’t know how to ride and needed someone to teach her. He happily offered to teach her. It worked out so perfectly.

“Octavia, it is a pleasure to introduce you to–” I said.

“Your teacher,” Raven finished.

Octavia’s jaw dropped and panic filled her eyes. Raven and I high fived each other. 

Octavia stuttered, trying to get coherent words out. Before she could make any sense, Raven said, “Have fun!” Then we all started our bikes and rode off toward the track. Raven and I laughed the whole way, thinking of Octavia’s expression. Now she knew what it was like to be in our shoes.

We did a few warm up laps. Lexa and I rode side by side, occasionally showing off a little on a jump to taunt each other.

She looked stunning soaring through the air next to me with the sun highlighting her. It seemed like she always had the sun behind her, like angels constantly followed her to give her a glow. 

She looked absolutely badass.

We exited the track for a second, sitting just outside of it.

“We gonna race?” Anya asked.

“Hell yeah!” Raven answered.

“Wait. Can we appreciate this sight for a moment?” I pointed off in the distance.

They all looked in the direction I pointed. Octavia was sitting on her bike and Lincoln had his arms just outside of hers, both of them clutching the handles. He was going over how to start the bike. If Octavia’s face went any redder, there was a possibility she could explode.

“They grow up so fast,” Raven said, adding fake sniffles.

Raven and I high fived again at our good work. Anya and Lexa laughed at us.

“Hopefully she doesn’t whiskey throttle,” Lexa said. “That would ruin the moment.”

We all laughed, imaging what that would look like.

“Alright! Let’s get our race on! Two laps!” Anya yelled excitedly.

“What should the winner get?” Lexa asked.

“Let’s make it winners,” Anya said. “Whichever girlfriend wins, gets to pick the next date.”

“Hold up. That’s not fair. You’re totally going to win and Lexa is probably just as good as you. You’re setting us up,” Raven said.

“I think it sounds fair,” Lexa said.

“Come on, Raven.” I said. “Let’s show them what we’re made of.”

She let out a sigh. “Fine, but last time I lost a bet…”

“It turned out really good for you,” I finished.

“Let’s go.” Anya went out on the track, but not before making sure no one was coming.

We followed and lined up evenly, side by side.

“Ready…” Anya started. “Set… GO!”

We shot off. Anya had a few feet ahead of us. Raven, Lexa, and I were mostly even. We came up to the first berm. You could clearly tell that Anya and Lexa had more experience with how they took the turn compared to Raven and I. They took it much more controlled and efficient, making them come out of it faster.

The only reason we were keeping up so far was because of our recklessness, not our skill. We would push on stupidly fast and our techniques came out sloppy. 

Raven and I made up for our turn on the straightaway. Next was a table top. Anya was gradually gaining more distance ahead of us so she hit it before us, doing a dramatic whip to show off.

I was a few meters ahead of Lexa so I decided to do a whip of my own to show off. I hit the jump and swung my bike out to the side, bringing it back in just before landing.

We hit another berm and then some whoops. As we came up to them, I swear I could hear Raven yell, “I hate these little fucks” over the sounds of wind and two stroke engines.

Raven, Lexa, and I were all fighting for second place. It made sense though. Lexa had been out of practice since her and Anya separated. Raven and I were still relatively new to the sport. 

Lexa and I were extremely competitive for second compared to Raven because she knew it was a lost cause. There was no way she could catch up to Anya.

Lexa and I kept exchanging the lead. Every turn one of us would do a block pass. Mostly it was Lexa doing it to me. On one of the jumps, Lexa had the nerve to do a whip and turn her back to stare at me as she soared through the air.

We started our second lap. Lexa’s skill really started to make a difference. Like Anya, she gained a decent lead, leaving Raven and I eating her dust. 

When we came to the finish, Anya and Lexa were sitting just outside of the track waiting for us. They both had their helmets off, resting on their laps with their arms thrown over them.

Raven and I pulled over to them, cutting our engines. 

Anya had a crooked smirk on her face. “Looks like we have to get planning our dates, Lexa.”

Lexa wore the same smile. “I already have something in mind for Clarke.”

The way she said that scared me, but at the same time I felt thrilled.

I took my helmet off and shook my head to unplaster my hair which was smooshed down from my helmet. I ran my hand through my hair now pushing it back. I caught Lexa staring at me and gave her a wink, getting back at her for earlier. Her face went red and she looked down to her lap which I found incredibly cute.

Whatever conversation was about to break out between us, didn’t happen because all of our attention was pulled to the track. Someone was yelling out of fear as they were riding by. The thing was, they were going really slow.

Another rider was trailing behind them laughing.

The scared rider accidentally picked up speed and started freaking out. 

“Lincooollln!”

The biggest smile broke out on my face when I realized it was Octavia. We clutched our stomachs in laughter as Lincoln sped up next to her, reassuring Octavia that she was okay.

“She’s never going to hear the end of this,” Raven said through fits of laughter.

We spent the remainder of our time learning and improving our techniques. Anya taught us mostly and Lexa would jump in every once in awhile with her expertise. 

Anya and Raven headed back to the trucks and Lexa and I took a few more casual laps before we headed back. We passed Octavia and Lincoln as we made our way around. She looked like she was doing much better. She was actually going a decent speed for a beginner. She also seemed like she was enjoying it now.

When Lexa and I arrived at the trucks, we caught Raven and Anya with their lips locked. 

“Eeewwwww,” I said as I threw my gloves at them. One smacked Raven perfectly in the cheek. They broke apart and Raven threw my gloves back at me. I caught them easily to her disappointment.

As we were putting our gear away and changing, Octavia and Lincoln rode up. Octavia turned off her bike and whipped her helmet off energetically.

“Guys! That was amazing! Why didn’t you force me out here sooner? Did you see how fast I was going? Lincoln, did you see how fast I was going?” She clutched Lincoln’s arm. Octavia spoke so fast and loud that it was hard to keep up with her.

Lincoln laughed and spoke calmly. “Yes, I saw. You were amazing.”

“I know I was. So when’s the next outing?” Octavia asked eagerly.

“Who knows, to be honest. Depends when everyone’s free and feels like riding,” Anya said.

Octavia’s shoulders slumped some.

“Don’t worry. I’ll come out with you again sometime soon,” Lincoln offered.

Octavia lit up again.

“Sorry to be a party pooper, but I need to get home to study,” I said.

“Yeah and Anya and I have some stuff planned,” Raven said.

We said our goodbyes and Lexa and I piled into my truck, getting ready for the forty-five minute drive back.

We just exited the parking lot when I asked, “Should I be scared for what you have planned for me?”

She laughed. “Maybe a little, unless you don’t mind getting hit in the face.”

“Before you follow through with this plan, I would like you to know that I am not into any BDSM, just so you know.” I mostly said this as a joke, But I also wanted to make that clear even though I knew she wasn’t planning anything like that. We hadn’t even had our first time yet.

It did its job because Lexa laughed. “No, you idiot. You know we agreed to take things slow. I’m not planning anything like that. I haven’t ever really told you why I moved back here in the first place. I’ve been planning on opening up a gym/dojo and have been working on it before I even got here. It’s almost ready to be opened. Everything was moved in about a week ago.”

“Wow. That’s so amazing. When were you planning on telling me?” This was such a big move, starting her own business. 

“Well, now. I planned on it being a surprise for Anya because she’s a fitness junky and I know she would freak out that she’d have free access to not only a gym but my gym. Then I decided to keep it a secret from everyone.”

“So what you’re saying is that you want to take me there and Bruce Lee my ass for a date.”

“When you put it that way it sounds horrible.” Lexa laughed. “I was thinking it would be a more intimate experience with the occasional punch to the face.”

“That makes me feel so much better,” I said.

“Well you’re basically a doctor so it’ll be fine.” She grabbed my hand that rested on the console and interlaced our fingers.

“Definitely not a doctor yet and even if I was, I would prefer not to treat myself or be injured in the first place.” I paused for a moment and then continued. “For real though, that’s amazing you did all that and that you’re starting your own business. I’m a proud girlfriend right now.”

She gave my hand a squeeze. “Don’t say you’re proud until it’s open and full of people. It’s going to be a lot of work to maintain it.”

“I’ll be there with you every step of the way. In fact, I can be the on call nurse when a child gets a bloody nose in a taekwondo class.”

She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “I really do appreciate that.”

That familiar warm feeling flooded my chest. 

“So how much time do I have to train before our date?” I asked jokingly.

“You’ll begin your training on our date.”

I gulped.


	4. Martial Arts

“End it! Finish me! The pain is too much to bare. We fought well, but me, not well enough. So finish what you started.” I laid on my back, panting and replaying what had just transpired.

“What are you talking about? We just started.” Lexa stood above me with her arms crossed and an amused grin on her face. She wore dark grey leggings that hugged her legs perfectly, showing the outlines of her muscles and a black tank top that formed to her equally as well. I could see a hint of her abs begging to be freed from the restricting top. I knew that I would have trouble focusing today.

I put the back of my hand to my forehead. “Hurry up. Finish me. I can’t stand the suspense much longer.”

Lexa rolled her eyes. “I only swept your leg out from under you and even set you down gently. I couldn’t have been nicer. Now come on, I want to get to some real fighting.”

I peeked through my fingers. “I don’t think you’ll get any  _ real  _ fighting with me.” I held my hands out. Lexa grabbed them, laughing and pulled me to my feet. “I’m serious. I took taekwondo classes for a short time when I was like ten. In other words, I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Lexa continued holding my hands. “I’ll teach you. We’ll start with the basics.” She got in a fighting stance. “Stand like I am.”

I did as told. Lexa circled around me, checking my stance. She adjusted my hand so that it was positioned higher and turned my hips slightly out. “Okay, good. Now bounce on the balls of your feet.” I started bouncing and Lexa positioned herself in across from me doing the same thing. “Try to punch me.”

“I don’t want to ruin your gorgeous face, especially not your lips. They’re too nice to not be able to kiss,” I said.

She acted like she didn’t hear my comment, but I saw her cheeks tint pink. “Just throw a punch at me. I don’t think you’ll land anything anyway.” She smirked.

“We’ll see about that,” I said more to myself than Lexa. I moved toward Lexa, but she mirrored my movements, keeping the distance between us. I made a quick movement forward, trying to get her in reach. At the same time, I threw a punch. She easily dodged it and backed away. 

“Be more aggressive. You actually have a pretty good punch. Be more confident,” she said as she circled me. I moved with her, keeping her in front of me. I punched again, putting more power behind it. She blocked it with the outside of her forearm. “Better! Keep them coming. I’m going to add some punches in now so be ready to block or dodge them.”

When she said this, the first thought that came to mind was that I was going to get punched today. I was the first to punch. Of course, she easily blocked it. She immediately threw one of her own. I barely dodged it, leaning back. The next thing I knew there was pressure on the back of my calf and I was on the ground looking up at Lexa.

“You always want to stay balanced and have a firm stance.” She held out her hand, offering to help me up. I accepted. “Try again and don’t be afraid to block.”

We went again. I threw a few punches that Lexa easily blocked and dodged. She finally made her move and my arm instinctively went up to protect my face, successfully blocking her punch. Some muscle memory kicked in from taekwondo all those years ago. I naturally recovered and was ready for the next attack. Lexa punched again and I stepped to the side out of the way. Her eyes narrowed.  She attacked again and I blocked it. She quickly followed up with a jab. I wasn’t expecting this. I watch in what seemed like slow motion as her fist closed in on my face. I closed my eyes out of instinct and waited. The impact never came. Instead, I felt her hand on the back of my neck, pulling me into her.

“You didn’t actually think I was going to punch you in the head, did you?” she said smiling. She brought her other hand up and intertwined them behind my neck.

“Well, I saw a fist coming at my face so it wasn’t out of the question,” I said, gently placing my hands on her hips.

“It’s like you said, I don’t want to ruin your gorgeous face.” It annoyed me a little how clever Lexa could be sometimes. She topped the statement off with a light peck on my lips. 

I felt my face heat up and I looked away from her. She laughed lightly at my behavior. “You’re cute when you blush.”

“I’m not blushing. It’s just hot in here.” Lexa was the only person I had met that could make me internally squirm with embarrassment and bashfulness as I was doing currently. In a good way, of course. She could make my mind blank and my lips speechless. I would get her back for that later.

“Mhm.” Her arms slid off my shoulders and dropped to her side. “Let’s introduce some kicks now.” She backed up and got into a fighting stance. She demonstrated different types of basic kicks, telling me to mimic her.

“You’re pretty flexible for someone who hasn’t done martial arts since they were ten. I feel like you could kick something off the top of my head,” Lexa said.

“First off, just because I don’t do taekwondo anymore doesn’t mean that I don’t exercise or stretch,” I said. “Second, you know I would end up kicking you in the head so, no thanks.”

“Okay, I’ll kick something off the top of your head.” Before I could protest, Lexa ran into her office in the back. Is she serious? She came back with a stuffed animal raccoon.

“You’re serious,” I said looking at her like she was insane.

“Yes,” she replied.

“No. I’m not about to get my teeth knocked out,” I said.

“Come on. I’ve shown you that I’m skilled at what I do. Don’t you trust me?” she asked. “If you really don’t want to, I won’t push you.”

Lexa was right. Her kicks were perfect in form, precision, and accuracy. Going by earlier, when she didn’t punch me, gave me enough trust that she wouldn’t hurt me. She wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place if she thought there was a chance she’d hurt me. Plus, it would bump Lexa from an eleven to a twelve on a scale of one to ten and make a good story. How many people can say that their martial artist girlfriend taekwondo-ed a stuffed raccoon off their heads?

“Okay. I trust you. Go for it,” I said.

“You’re sure?” she asked, smiling.

“Yes. Do it before I change my mind,” I said.

She placed the raccoon on my head. She mumbled under her breath, “Don’t worry, you’re a doctor anyway.”

“I heard that! I am not a doctor and would like to avoid any painful situations,” I said.

“Kidding. Kidding,” Lexa said as she positioned herself. “Whatever you do, don’t move.”

I gulped. Almost instantly, it was over. Lexa spun around and hook kicked the raccoon off my head. If you blinked, you could’ve missed it. I felt the breeze from her foot pass over my hair.

“Told you that you wouldn’t get hit,” Lexa said. “If you were, that would’ve been okay because you’re a doctor,” she mumbled again.

I punched her a little bit harder than lightly in the abdomen. She let out a “Ooof” and held her stomach with her hand. “Landed one,” I said.

“Oh, you’re going to regret that.” She had a smirk on her face that was borderline evil. Before I could fully process what she said, Lexa was coming at me. My eyes widened and I ran. 

“Lexa! No!” I yelled between fits of laughter. I kept evading her. She got her hands on me a couple times, but I was able to slip away. This went on for a few minutes until she got a solid grip around my waist. She pulled my back into her body. Using some move that happened too quickly for me to know what was going on, she brought me to the ground. I was on my stomach and she was on top of my back, throwing very light punches and elbows at my head.

“Land a hit on me now, Griffin,” she said, laughing. Challenge accepted.

I squirmed under her, but she had a firm hold on… well, my everything. She stopped jokingly hitting me and wrapped her arms around my neck, putting me in a loose choke. I managed to roll over so that we were both on our back, me on top of Lexa. She still had her arms around me and her feet were hooked around my hips. I pushed off the ground with my feet and lifted my hips up, trying to break her hold on them. They weren’t moving so I started twisting my body, trying to reposition myself to face her. I was successful.

Lexa kept me close. Her arms were still around my neck. My head was tucked just below her chin. Her legs were now interlocked behind my back while mine were in a kneeling position. I put my hands on her arm, attempting to push them off me. I was able to slip my head out, but as soon as I was free, her hands were back on me. I was back in the same position. We continued to wrestle until I had an idea. It was fairly simple and a basic technique that ninety-nine percent of the time works. I mastered it in middle school.

I reached down to her sides and straightened two of my fingers. I jammed them into her sides, effectively tazing her. She wasn’t expecting it and tried squirm away from my fingers as I continued to taze her. “Clarke! That’s so unfair!” She attempted to hold back her laughs and failed miserably. She gave up on controlling my head and let go, pushing away my hands from her sides.

“All’s fair in love and war,” I said. I took advantage and put her in a similar situation I was in. I hugged her head into my chest, just below my chin. 

“What?” she asked confused.

“I don’t know. It seemed like the appropriate response,” I replied.

Lexa started sliding under me, attempting to escape. I honestly had no idea what I was doing, but I knew my end goal, the thing that would win me this fight. I just had to stumble along to get there. I made myself as heavy as possible to make it harder for Lexa to escape. I let go of my grip on her head. This moment of freedom made Lexa spring into action. Her arms immediately went up to gain more control. I was able to grip each wrist and pin them down to her chest. I went to force them above her head. She fought me, but I had a weight advantage being on top.

I pinned them above her head. We both stopped moving and found ourselves panting. The stillness only lasted a moment. Lexa struggled to get her wrists free. I had her where I wanted her. Time to deliver the final blow. I leaned down and kissed her and felt her slowly stop fighting and relax. My hands slid from her wrists to her hands where our fingers intertwined. Her lips were incredibly soft and inviting, but I couldn’t stay this way forever as much as I’d like. I had a mission to complete.

I pulled away and noticed how dazed she looked. I leaned in close again and said in her ear, “Landed another one.” 

That broke her out of her trance. Her eyebrows came together. “That’s cheating.”

“Hey, I used your weakness to my advantage. I say that’s pretty fair,” I replied.

“That doesn’t count as a hit though,” she said.

“Going by the look on your face, I say it does.” I laughed. Her reply was poking me in my side. I jolted away. “Hey!”

“That’s for earlier,” she said.

“So, I won.” I was looking for her confirmation. I knew Lexa went easy on me and could easily kick my ass if she wanted, but I still demanded a victory.

“I’ll give you this one,” Lexa said. “but we are going to learn some actual jiu jitsu and have an actual match with no tazing or kissing.”

“What about a little kissing?” I asked.

“No.”

“Just a little.” I held up my fingers showing a small gap.

“No.”

“Just a little.” I made the gap smaller.

“No.”

I kissed her again. “Just a little.”

“Maybe just a little.”

I smiled and she smiled back. “Let’s actually learn some real techniques now.”

I laid my head on her chest. “But I’m pretty content here.” Lexa wrapped her arms around my shoulders, hugging me. We laid there for a few moments. All of the sudden, Lexa flipped us over and stood up, pulling me with her.

“Since you like the ground so much better, we’ll switch to jiu jitsu,” she said.“ I can show you a few throws first.” Lexa walked over to the outside of the mat and stripped her tank top. As she wiped her sweat with her top, I admired her figure. She had a full six pack that glistened with sweat. This woman was like a goddess or at least sculpted by one. Everything she said to me from now on was going to go over my head. What really caught my attention was a tattoo that ran the length of her spine. 

Lexa came over to me and closed my jaw. I hadn’t realized it was hanging open. She had an amused grin. “Are you okay? You look like you have something on your mind.”

“It’s nothing really. I was just wondering about your tattoo,” I said, not giving her the answer she wanted to hear.

She nodded. “Mhm,” she said. “That is a story for another time.”  
  


“Okay then, teach me how to throw you across the room,” I said. 

First she taught me how to land properly. I forgot that in order for me to learn the throws I would have to be tossed myself. Lexa tried making it as gentle as possible, but gravity had no mercy. I landed on the floor for the fifth time in a row. “Ooof. Can I make you and gravity be as good of friends as we have just become in these past few minutes?”

Lexa laughed. “Do you think you got it down?”

“We’ll see,” I grabbed her arm and pulled her into me. Her abs were flush against my side. My mind went blank. I couldn’t remember the next step.

“Clarke?” 

“Yes?”

“Do you know what you’re doing?”

I let a cuss word slip under my breath. Lexa heard it and smirked.

“Is there a problem, Clarke?”

She knew dang well what the problem was. “Nope.”

“Throw me then.”

“Yep.” I searched my mind for the next step, but all that was there was Lexa.

“Do you remember the next step?”

“Nope.”

“I can put my shirt back on if you want. It annoys me in jiu jitsu. It rides up too much.”

“Nope. You’re fine. Really fine. So fine.” My thoughts came to a halt when Lexa flicked my forehead.

“Are you focused now?” She asked.

“I ab– AM. I am. Focused.” I wanted to punch myself.

“Okay then. What you want to do next is wrap your other arm around my back and use your hips to flip me.”

“Right.” I wrapped my arm around her back. My hand rested on her obliques and I wanted to slap some sense into myself. I hurried up and finished the throw. She fell a little too softly on the floor.

“You didn’t use enough hips. If you put more power into them, the faster the momentum will be. I kind of just slid off your hip that time.” I helped her up and refused to look down.

“Fricken shirt rides up. My tank top is fine,” I mumbled to myself as I repositioned.

“What was that?” Lexa asked.

“Nothing.” I threw her again, this time focusing more on using my hip to do most of the work. She hit the floor with a loud smack.

“Good!” She said.

After a few more good throws, we took it to the ground. At this point, I was really debating whether or not to take off my shirt to get back at Lexa. The only risk was that I could unintentionally make things worse for myself, creating more skin on skin contact. 

We had been practicing different types of guards and mounts, which required a lot of laying on top of each other. Lexa was currently on top of me casually sitting back on my hips.

“Normally we would have gi’s to grab onto, but mine are in the wash. I have done no gi before, but I think it’ll make it harder for you without it. Just grab what you can.” She’s one hundred percent trying to kill me. 

Incoherent stutters came out of my mouth. I struggled to find my words. “You don’t mean that.”

“Do you want me to flick you again?” She wore an amused grin.

“Nope. I’m good,” I replied.

“Great, then you can try to escape my mount.” She immediately went into it, trying to lock me in place. We struggled against each other. I kept trying to grip her arms or legs to loosen their hold on me, but my hands kept slipping. I understood the preference for wearing gi’s now or at least some type of clothing, which LEXA WAS LACKING.

I was sucking wind and sweating, but Lexa seemed to be fine. The only thing that gave way she was having some type of workout was the thin layer of sweat coating her body. I kept pulling at her arms and shuffling underneath her. I spun around so I was now facing the floor in a kneeling position. Lexa was still on top of me with her arms around my shoulders and neck. I don’t know if this was any better.

“Come on, Clarke. Remember what I taught you,” Lexa urged. She rolled us over so she was on her back and my back was pressed to her front. She had me in a choke and her feet were hooked on the inside of my hips like earlier.

“How can I remember anything when you’re shirtless and showing off your fifty pack?” I grunted trying to free my head from her choke.

“So the truth comes out. I don’t have a fifty pack. That’s ridiculous,” she said casually.

“Could’ve fooled me,” I said, continuing to pant and squirm. “You’re FREAKING SPIDERMAN! WHAT THE HECK! You’re hands are superglued to me!”” 

Lexa laughed. “You need to calm down and focus. I’m going easy on you. All you need to do is execute what I taught you. There will be plenty of time to focus on my abs later.”

“I’m going to flick you so hard when I get out of this,” I said in frustration.

She laughed again. “I’m waiting.”

I took a deep breath and focused on what Lexa said to do to escape a rear mount. I took control of her arm that was choking me. I pulled her hand toward my shoulder and drove my head back into the ground. Then I lifted my hips up and started turning by shuffling my feet toward my left. As I turned, her left leg slowly lost its grip on my leg. I now had her thigh pinned under me. I stiff armed her other leg and began to work on pushing it off me. My leg started sliding out and Lexa lost control. She made a move to climb back on top of me, but I brought my legs up and stuck her in a half guard.

She relaxed and smiled. “Nice job,” she said, panting a little bit. “Ow!” I flicked her in the forehead.

“I warned you,” I said. “Everything is going to hurt tomorrow.” I rested my legs on the ground and Lexa leaned over me, both arms on either side of my ribs.

“I won’t lie. It probably will,” she said. “But I will be with you. I’ll bring you ice packs or heating pads, whatever you need. We can have a movie day.”

“As nice as that sounds, I need to study for my exam. Instead, you can help me study,” I said.

Lexa groaned. “Hey, you taught me your profession today. Now it’s my turn to teach you some of mine.,” I pointed out.

“Fine,” she pouted. I leaned up and pulled on her sports bra, closing the gap between us. I kissed the pout right off her face.

“I think we’re done for the day. Did you have fun?” she asked as she pulled me up to my feet.

“As painful and tiring as it was at times, I would say I still had fun. Maybe it was just because of the teacher,” I said.

“Good. I expect us to do this again in the future then,” she said.

“When I said fun, I meant not fun at all. In fact it was so bad that–” She cut me off with a kiss. “It wasn’t that bad,” I said.

“That’s what I thought,” she said with a loving smile.


	5. Friendsgiving

Raven and I were at the grocery store picking up last minute supplies for Thanksgiving dinner. Every year we have a friendsgiving, normally consisting of Raven, Octavia, Bellamy, Anya, Jasper, Monty, and Harper. This year we’re adding Lexa and Lincoln. Traditionally, mayhem ensues all the way up until dinner. After dinner, it continues and gradually increases as food and alcohol is consumed. We end the day with a drunk game of football and dessert with a movie. If you were a bystander watching the game unfold, you would see a bunch of drunk, food stuffed people attempting to stay upright. To us, however, we felt like NFL football players. Lexa and Lincoln didn’t know what was coming at them.

I was in the middle of the aisle grabbing some hawaiian rolls while Raven went to find green beans. I picked up a couple of bags and turned to walk out of the aisle. I stopped as I saw Raven go by with the shopping cart. That wasn’t what stopped me though. It was the way she went by. Her hands gripped the handle of the cart while the rest of her body was dragged limply behind.

After my mind registered what I just saw, I picked up the pace to find Raven. When I reached the end of the aisle I looked to the direction Raven went. I found only an old couple and a mother with her two kids. I looked down aisle after aisle, finding only your average person.

As I approached the chip aisle, I could hear the squeaky wheel of Raven’s shopping cart pick up speed. I turned the corner just as Raven hit top speed and let her legs go from under her. As she was dragged by the momentum of the cart, she reached her hand out and grabbed a family sized bag of tostito chips. She pulled herself back up and put them in the cart while singing the song Hot N Cold by Katy Perry the whole way. I would’ve thrown the rolls at her, but I didn’t want them to get ruined.

Instead, I said, “What in the hell are you doing?”

Raven turned towards me. “I’m getting some chips. Did you happen to pick up queso or guac? We need some.” She said this as if she wasn’t acting as a human mop moments ago.

“No, but you just picked up a bunch of dirt as you slid across the floor for some strange reason,” I said.

She smirked at me. “I was just having some fun, Griffin. Loosen up.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Did you have a shot before we left?”

“Maybe two,” she replied. “but that’s not the point. The point is we need some dip for these bad boys.” She held up the bag of tostitos.

I hurriedly pulled Raven through the rest of the store to get the rest of what we needed before she could make evenmore of a fool of herself. Before we exited the store she almost managed to knock over a cookie display in the bakery section, she slipped on a puddle where there was a wet floor sign right next to it, and came mere inches from running someone over with our cart. It was a relief to get her in the car to say the least.

Every year we rotate who’s apartment we have friendsgiving at. This year happened to be my turn. We headed back to my apartment to finish cooking and to set everything up. I texted Lexa to come over whenever. In the meantime, I had to suffer in Raven’s presence. She was currently singing Britney Spears songs into a giant mixing spoon and dancing around the room.

“I swear, Raven, if you get any of that pumpkin mix anywhere you’re cleaning it,” I said.

“Oh, what? You mean like this?” She flicked the spoon and pumpkin flung off, splattering on my chin and neck.

I let out a shocked breath and sent a death glare her way. “You’re asking for it.”

For several long minutes, I attempted to murder Raven via pumpkin mix. Of course, it was all in good fun. Raven could be a little shit, but she was a good, fun, little shit. We finally stopped when there was a knock on the door. We took a good look at ourselves and the kitchen. There was pumpkin everywhere except the bowl it originally started in. Both of our shirts had pumpkin splattered throughout it as well as our arms and faces. We laughed at each other. We laughed so hard that we had to clench our stomachs to control the pain. A second knock reminded us that someone was at the door.

I grabbed a rag and attempted to clean myself as I made my way to the door. Not surprisingly, it was Lexa. I flashed her a smile and she did the same until she took in my appearance. “What happened to you?”

“Raven,” I replied. My reply answered all of her questions.

I stepped aside. “Well, come on in.”

Her mouth dropped open when she caught sight of the kitchen. “It looks like you guys had a war with a pumpkin.”

“Basically.” We both said at the same time.

“Raven, can you text Octavia and tell her to bring over a pumpkin pie?” I asked.

“Already on it,” she said furiously typing away on her phone.

I turned to Lexa. “How’s your day been?”

“I think I can say better than yours,” she replied laughing.

“You’re probably not wrong,” I said laughing with her. 

“I can make it better,” she said.

“How can you do that?” I asked, smiling.

“By doing this.” She pulled at the collar of my shirt and kissed me. I could taste a hint of cinnamon on her lips. I hummed with content. Of course Raven had to interrupt us.

“Lexa, where were you earlier when Clarke was being pissy?” Raven asked. “You could’ve solved all my problems and tamed the beast.”

I deadpanned and Lexa laughed. “Sorry. I only got a text not long ago,” Lexa said.

“You know what? I’m going to go brighten my day too,” Raven said. “Where’s Anya at?”

“Woah, you aren’t going anywhere until you help clean up this mess,” I said.

“Ugh. Fine.”

I’ve never seen Raven clean anything so fast. It was like she summoned her inner Mr. Clean. The second the last spec of pumpkin was cleaned, Raven threw her rag down and made a beeline for the door. “I’ll see you guys later. I’m gonna go smooch up with my girlfriend while you guys do that here. I also need to get a clean shirt” With that, she left.

“She’s entertaining,” Lexa said.

“You should’ve seen her at the store earlier,” I replied. 

Lexa reached over and dragged her thumb across my jawline. Her finger came back with pumpkin on it. She licked it off. “You missed a spot,” she said. My face went red. I looked down at my pumpkin covered shirt. “I missed a lot of spots,” I said.

A devilish smirk appeared on my face. “Don’t worry. I got them.” I took off my shirt, revealing my abs. This was one hundred percent pay back for Lexa’s jiu jitsu stunt. “Much better,” I said. “I’m going to go get clean shirt.” Right before I turned the corner leading down a short hallway to my room, I stopped and turned to Lexa. “That’s right. I’ve been hiding my rectus abdominis from you this whole time.” Then I ran down to my room. I’ve never felt nerdier in my life, but it did the trick. I could hear Lexa uncontrollably laughing from the other room.

I came back with a clean shirt on. Lexa was still trying to recover from laughing. “You are the sexiest nerd I have ever laid my eyes on,” she said between laughs. 

“Thank you. The sexy part is a side effect from being able to say sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia,” I joked.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“A brain freeze,” I replied casually. She laughed again. I couldn’t help the loving smile that spread across my face. This was one of those rare instants in my life where I never wanted to leave the moment. Watching Lexa throw her head back laughing and feeling the giddiness rise in my chest made me want to live in this moment forever. The thing was that these moments weren’t so rare anymore. Ever since Lexa and I started dating, I’ve been experiencing these moments more often, and I never get tired of them.

After our laughter subsided, we made our way over to the small balcony that was attached to my apartment. It overlooked the street and the park that stretched all the way to Grounders. If you looked far enough, Grounders’ roof was barely visible through the trees. We squished ourselves in a wide recliner that almost took up the entire balcony. I laid a big blanket over us to protect us from the autumn chill.

“Do we need to cook anything else?” Lexa asked.

I looked at my watch. It was only three. “No. Octavia was here earlier. We got the main stuff ready for the most part. There’s a few more side dishes that need to be made, but we have time.”

“Good. I don’t want to move.” Lexa snuggled deeper into the blanket and my shoulder, hugging my left arm into her body.

“So, about that back tattoo of yours.” I’ve been wondering about it since I first saw it. It was a nice piece and made my girlfriend that much sexier, which I wasn’t complaining about at all.

“What about it?” Lexa asked.

“It’s beautiful. What’s its meaning?” I asked.

She held my arm a little tighter. “Well, it reminds me of my strength. It represents me getting through all my struggles in life,” she said. “The bigger circles represent bigger obstacles I’ve had to go through. One of them represents losing my little brother, Aden, to a car accident. It reminds me of all that I’ve been through and how much stronger I’ve become. It reminds me that I can get through anything.”

My chest hurt at the thought of Lexa being in any kind of pain. I squeezed her hand that was on my arm. “Don’t look so concerned, Clarke. I’m okay now.”

“Still just the thought of what you had to go through.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “That’s beautiful, though, and now you have me to remind you how strong you are too.” She gave me a loving smile.  “All you have to do is put me in some jiu jitsu hold.”

She laughed. “You’ll get better. Pretty soon we’ll be evenly matched.”

“I wouldn’t say soon.”

“Now your turn,” she said. I looked at her confused. “Don’t think I didn’t notice the compass tattoo on the back of your shoulder,” she said. “What’s its meaning?”

I took a deep breath. Lexa could sense my unease and held on to me a little tighter. “My dad died a few years ago from cancer. He had this thing he used to always tell me. No matter where he was, if I needed help, he would find me and come to my rescue. So, I got a compass with his initials in the center so I can find him and always have him with me.”

Lexa kissed the spot behind my ear. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. We were able to say our goodbyes. I’ve gotten my closure,” I said.

“That’s good.” She rested her head on my shoulder. “I know I can’t replace your dad, but I’m willing to try to fill any hole in your heart.”

Warmth spread across my chest. She put into words what I had been feeling these past two and a half months. She made me feel complete. It seemed too soon to say this. We’d only been dating a few months, but I felt comfortable and confident saying this.

“You already have,” I said. She lifted her head to look at me. I leaned in and kissed her. I felt her smile against my lips. Her other hand came up and gently held my jawline. She pulled back for a second and then continued to give me a few short gentle kisses. I could never get tired of kissing her.

We sat outside for the next hour, refusing to move. It was so peaceful and nice. I’ve never felt so little stress before in my life.

“This is nice,” Lexa said. 

“Live in the moment,” I said. “This is the calm before the storm.”

Lexa laughed lightly. My phone vibrated and I pulled it out to see who texted me. “Speaking of the storm.”

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Octavia and Lincoln are on their way over as well as Monty and Jasper,” I replied.

“I haven’t met them yet. Will they like me?” she asked.

“No doubt in my mind they will. Just be warned. Jasper can be flirty sometimes and come off the wrong way. You’ll warm up to him. They’re both overall great guys, very nerdy.” I said.

“Makes sense why they hang out with you,” Lexa said.

“Hey!” I pouted. She kissed the pout right off my face. “I like your nerdiness. It’s cute,” she said.

We stayed out on the balcony until the first people showed up. Lincoln and Octavia arrived first. 

“Hey guys,” Lincoln greeted.

“I brought the pumpkin pie. I’m assuming you and Raven started fighting,” Octavia said, handing me the pie.

“She didn’t tell you what happened?” I asked.

“All she said was that she had become a pumpkin and therefore could not make a pumpkin pie. Then she asked me to bring one,” Octavia said.

“She’s not wrong,” Lexa said. “Clarke and Raven were covered in pumpkin, as well as the entire kitchen.”

“I don’t even want to know what went down,” Octavia said shaking her head.

I put the pie down on the kitchen counter. “Hey Clarke, is it alright if I put some football on tv?” Lincoln asked.

“Yeah. Go ahead,” I replied. He put on the Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh game.

“That’ll be us playing later,” Octavia said, grabbing a beer from the refrigerator. Another knock sounded at the door.

It was Monty and Jasper. “Let’s get this party started!” Jasper cheered as he walked in. Monty followed with a jar of some clear liquid.

“Oh no, Monty,” Octavia said. “Last time I drank that I had a hangover for a week.”

“What is that?” Lexa asked me.

“Monty’s moonshine,” I replied. “He makes it himself. It will mess you up. If you drink it, only drink a really small amount.”

“Is this the famous black belt girlfriend we’ve been hearing so much about?” Jasper asked, directing his question at Lexa. “Wow, Clarke. You’re right. Your words couldn’t do her justice.” Jasper took her hand. “You know, I studied martial arts for a few years. Maybe we should spar later.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“How about right now?” Lexa said as she twisted his wrist. It wasn’t enough to hurt him, but just enough to make him uncomfortable.

“Ow! Clarke she’s hurting me,” Jasper panicked, pulling his wrist away.

“You deserved it, man,” Monty said. 

Lexa smirked in amusement. “He’s normally not this forward,” I said. “He’s already drunk.”

“He also just makes a fool of himself in front of any girl whether he is sober or not,” Monty added.

“You’ll warm up to him,” I told Lexa.

“I’m Monty, by the way.” He held his hand out and Lexa shook it.

“Lexa.”

Another knock and Bellamy joined the party. Lexa had met Bellamy once before at Grounders.

“Nice to see you again, Lexa,” Bellamy greeted.

“What’s up bitches!” Raven busted through the door with Anya following. “Let’s get this party started.”

“Raven, there’s this thing called knocking. You should try it sometime.” Octavia said.

“It’s hopeless,” Anya said. “She’s already walked in on my changing and going to the bathroom multiple times. One time she walked so hard into the door when she was drunk that she actually broke the lock on it.”

“Why do we let her drink?” Bellamy asked. Everyone stared at each other thinking of a reason to why they’ve never thought of refusing her alcohol.  

Harper showed up not long after Raven and Anya did. Harper and Lexa’s meeting went much smoother than with Jasper. The rest of the gathering went as it normally did before dinner. Everyone was enjoying each others company and whatever football games were on. Lexa seemed to be enjoying herself too. She was much more comfortable with Jasper now, after holding a more civil conversation with each other. Octavia and I were in and out of the kitchen finishing up the cooking. Lincoln would come in every once in a while to dump his culinary knowledge on us. He was surprisingly a good chef. Lexa would also pop in just to spend time with me.

Finally, everything was ready. It was close to seven when we started eating. We were all huddled in the main room around the coffee table in front of the tv, but no one was watching the game anymore. Jasper, Monty, and Harper were on the couch. Octavia was sitting in a comfy recliner chair next to the couch. The rest of us were on the floor. We normally ate like this because we felt that it was much more fun. We tried sitting at a dining table once, but everyone ended up breaking into smaller conversations. This way it was one big conversation. We could all see each other and talk easier.

“Okay, but real talk. Can you actually do a five forty kick?” Jasper asked Lexa.

“Yes,” she answered casually. Jasper looked at Lexa as if she was some martial arts prodigy. “It’s really not that big of a deal.” She laughed. “A lot of people can do it.”

“Well, I’ve never met someone. Can you teach me?” he asked.

“I guess. Yeah.”

Lexa just made Jasper’s day. He wouldn’t stop smiling. “Monty, do you know what this means?”

“You’re going to destroy our apartment and maybe me by kicking everything,” Monty replied.

“No,” Jasper said. “I’ll be a chick magnet.” Everyone laughed.

“I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think that will have girls throwing themselves at you,” Bellamy said.

“It worked for Lexa. I mean look at Clarke. That’s a pretty good score,” Jasper said.

“Sound argument,” Lincoln said.

“I don’t know what Clarke did to get Lexa though,” Jasper contemplated. “She can be a nerd sometimes.”

Both mine and Lexa’s faces went red. “I fell down a hill on my longboard.”

“That’s unfair,” Jasper said. “You literally fell on your face and still somehow managed to get the girl.”

“If it makes you feel any better, Jasper, I think yours and Monty’s nerdiness is cute,” Harper said. Monty sat up straighter with a slightly wider smile.

“I think yours is cute too,” Lexa said to me. I blushed.

“So you say,” I replied, grabbing her hand under the table.

“Raven’s pretty nerdy too. Sometimes it’s like she’s speaking a different language,” Anya said.

“Do you think it’s cute too?” Raven asked.

“No.” Anya said. Raven frowned. “Don’t look like that. You know what I think is cute–” Everyone cut Anya off by making loud incoherent sounds. Anya just sat there with a sly crooked smile. Raven sat there with red cheeks looking anywhere but Anya.

Octavia switched the subject. “Does anyone remember the time when Monty and Jasper passed out their moonshine at that bonfire party on the beach?” Everyone hummed in agreement except Lincoln and Lexa.

We all reminisced in memories. This was one of the few days of the year that I really looked forward to the most. Having all my friends surrounding me made me feel as if I wasn’t letting life slip away from my grasp. It reminds me to live in the moment. Although, with Lexa by my side now too, it made things so much more exciting. Having her with me made everyday feel like thanksgiving.

I didn’t realize it, but I was staring at Lexa with a loving smile. She felt my eyes on her and turned to me. A smile grew on her face as well as confusion. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No reason,” I said.

“Okay, you weirdo,” she said lovingly.

We all finished eating and put our plates away in the kitchen. We continued to sit around a little while longer, letting our food digest some while also taking in more alcohol.

“All right. Who’s ready to get crushed by me in some football?” Bellamy asked, standing up and stretching.

“No, my friend. It is you who is going to get crushed,” Lincoln said.

Bellamy squared up to Lincoln. “Is that so?” he said.

“I think we just found our two captains,” Raven said.

 

***

 

I slipped on the damp grass for fifth time in ten minutes. Lexa came up to me chuckling, holding out her hand. “Are you okay?”

“My right ass cheek is destroyed. If I had butt implants there is no doubt in my mind that my right one would be popped.” I took her hand and pulled myself up.

She laughed. “I’ll massage it for you later.”

“Lexa, come on.” Bellamy called her over to their huddle. She left me blushing like an idiot. 

The teams were me, Lincoln, Monty, Raven and Harper versus Lexa, Bellamy, Octavia, Jasper, and Anya. Bellamy and Octavia on the same team makes a deadly force. Naturally, Lexa is good at everything. Anya is like Lexa except on steroids, emotionally. Monty and Jasper are both practically useless physically, but they bring really genius ideas to the table every once in a while. Lincoln apparently used to play football in college. He was a wide receiver, but was currently playing as our quarterback. Raven was fast. She normally plays running back. Harper has good hands. I normally played quarterback, but decided to let Lincoln have a go. I was pretty decent at catching too, but apparently not at running on damp grass.

“Clarke, the grass is killing you. We’ll need to get you some cleats next year,” Lincoln said.

“Nah. She’s just drunker than usual,” Raven said.

“You’re not wrong,” I said.

“Alright what’s next? It’s fourth down. Are we going for it?” Harper asked.

“Hell yeah we’re going for it,” Monty said.

“Lincoln, do you mind if I’m quarterback for this one?” I asked. “Running isn’t really working out for me at the moment.”

“Sure,” he replied.

“I know we are pretty far from the end zone and it’s fourth down, but I think we should Hail Mary it. Raven you’ll stay with me,” I said.

“Bold. I like it,” Raven said.

We lined up. “Oh no. Clarke is quarterback,” Jasper said.

“Everyone back up!” Bellamy waved his arms back and everyone followed.

“Down!” I yelled. “Set! Hike!” Monty snapped the ball to me. Everyone took off, except Raven. Every one of them was covered. It was too risky to force a pass.

“Raven! Pop out.” Raven ran to the wide open middle where she caught my pass. All the defenders came running back to stop her. She juked on Bellamy, making him slip on the grass. She out ran everyone except Lexa. Lexa was just able to snag her waist and pull Raven to the ground.

We had about ten yards to go and the score was 14-0. We were losing. “Nice look, Clarke,” Lincoln said.

“Let’s do that again,” Raven said enthusiastically.

Lincoln told each receiver what route to run. Raven was to run short to the middle. Monty was going to block anyone who tried to rush me. Harper was going to slant across. Lincoln was going to go ten steps and then turn around. Monty was going to go ten steps and then cut across. 

“Set! Hike!” Everyone went into motion. Bellamy was like a hawk guarding Lincoln. Octavia was double teaming with Bellamy. Lexa was sitting back playing zone in the middle, keeping an eye on Raven. Anya was covering Harper. Monty and Jasper ran into each other and fell to the ground, limbs tangled.

Harper and Anya were coming up to Jasper and Monty as they crashed into each other. Harper was quick to react and hurdled over them as they were falling. Anya, being too focused on Harper and the football, didn’t notice Jasper and Monty. She became apart of their pile of limbs and cursing. 

Lexa now had to cover both Raven and Harper. They split in opposite directions, forcing Lexa to choose who she was going to guard. She chose to hover closer to Raven. I threw a bullet pass to Harper. Lexa attempted to sprint to her in time to swat at the ball. She didn’t make it in time. Harper caught it just passed two large trees marking the end zone, scoring our first touchdown. We all cheered and gave each other high fives. 

“You got a pretty good arm, Griffin,” Lincoln said.

“Thank you. Let’s show off your skills next. Show them how good of a receiver you are.”

“They won’t know what hit them.”

Our defence could definitely use some work. However, we were fortunate enough that their team was suffering from butter fingers at the moment. They were only making short gains through short passes or runs. Their long passes were either overthrown by Bellamy or the receivers couldn’t grip the ball. 

The next play they opted to make Lexa the running back. She took off. She was almost as fast as Raven. She juked out Harper and Monty. Lincoln, Raven, and I pushed her toward the sideline. When we got close enough to her, she tried to cut back in the opposite direction, but I was there ready. My arms wrapped around her waist and I brought her to the ground. I landed on top of her.

“If only we were in the privacy of my dojo doing this,” she said. 

I looked down at her. “I prefer this where I’m more in my element and can’t have you put me in a headlock without witnesses.”

“But there’s less kissing,” she said. I rolled my eyes and helped her up. I went to walk back to my team to set up for the next play, but she grabbed my arm, turning me around. Before I could process anything, her lips were on mine in a quick but satisfying kiss. “Had to get one in,” she said.

They ended up scoring. Now the score was 21-7. Our defense got slowly better as they went. We really had to crush them on offense if we wanted a chance to win. This time around, we had a much better connection with each other. Harper and Lincoln were my prime targets. They caught most of my passes. Raven ended up running it in, scoring another touchdown.

We started to become more focused on defense or maybe the alcohol was leaving our systems. We were able to stop them. It was our ball now and on the first play, Lincoln went long. I threw the ball. It soared through the air, flying the length of our makeshift field in the park. Lincoln had outran everyone so the defense was mostly watching on as the ball made its way toward its target. It was the perfect pass, landing the perfect distance in front of Lincoln so he could easily reach out and grab it. We scored our third touchdown. The score was now even.

Raven was matched up with Lexa. Raven did a good job covering her, but Lexa was able to fake her out to get open. Lexa caught a long pass from Bellamy. Raven was able to tackle her. Lexa cheered along with her team. They had really good field position now. 

As Raven passed me she said, “Sorry, Griff. Had to touch your girl.” I rolled my eyes at her.

We were able to stop their next four drives. Possession switched. Their defense increased in intensity. They were all over the place. I was forcing my passes more and Raven couldn’t get a good run. We were slowly gaining yards. 

On one play Lincoln was open for a split second. I threw the ball to him. Bellamy came out of nowhere in the opposite direction Lincoln was going. They hit into each other right as the ball got to them. They both reached for it, but the ball bounced off of them and flew back into the air. It landed in the waiting arms of Jasper. 

Jasper stood there wide eyed. It took him a few seconds to process what was happening. Everyone else stopped and looked on, in shock that Jasper got an interception. “I got the ball. I got the ball! What do I do?!” 

“Run, Jasper!” Bellamy yelled. The rest of their team yelled at him to run. At first he started running in the wrong direction toward our end zone, but Anya grabbed his shoulders and pushed him in the right direction. He yelled the whole time he ran. Harper ended up stopping him.

Jasper popped up from the ground. “Did you guys see that? That was pretty good.” Bellamy and Monty patted him on the back, congratulating him.

Unfortunately for Jasper and his team, their new offensive opportunity was shut down. The football turned over into our possession. 

The clock was creeping up to nine thirty. It was getting late and we still had dessert to eat. “Two-minute warning!” Octavia announced.

We inched our way down the field. We weren’t moving fast enough. Time was running out. “Fifteen seconds!” Octavia called out.

“Hail Mary it is then,” I said to the huddle. We hurried to the line of scrimmage. “Set! Hike!” Everyone took off. They were struggling to get open. I noticed Lexa rushing me. I had to throw. The only person who was barely open was Monty. I had no other option.

I threw the football just as Lexa made contact with me. We both fell to the ground. Lexa was partially on top of me, her arm laying over my waist. We quickly lifted our heads to watch the scene unfold. It was like I was watching it in slow motion. The ball was spiralling threw the air, falling closer and closer to the ground. Monty’s arms were outstretched waiting for the ball. The distance between Monty and the ball was closing and as it got closer, I could tell I overthrew the ball just a hair, but Monty was determined to catch it. He leapt forward, arms still out. The ball landed in his hands and he pulled it to his body as he landed hard on the ground. He laid there for a few moments, not moving.

Everyone down there approached him to see if he was okay. He abruptly popped up and started cheering, holding the ball above his. “I scored the winning touchdown!” He continued cheering.

I became aware of how sore my butt was after falling on it all night. Lexa’s hit didn’t help. I let my head fall back and my arms sprawled out. “Ow,” I said.

Lexa looked down at me with a concerned expression. “Did I hurt you?”

“Just my pride… and my other ass cheek.”

A smile broke out on her face realizing that I wasn’t actually hurt. She laughed and got up. “Come on. Let’s go congratulate Monty.” She helped me up.

Jasper seemed just as happy as Monty. They were both cheering and in good spirits talking about how well they perform this year. 

“Nice grab, Monty and Jasper,” I said.

“I can speak for both us by saying it was an honor to catch a pass thrown by the Clarke Griffin,” Jasper said. Monty nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, where did that arm come from?” Lexa asked me.

“My dad. He had a pretty good arm. He played in college and taught me how to throw.”

“And my dad had a pretty good periodic table on the cover of his notebook, incase you were wondering where my talent didn’t come from,” Jasper said.

“Don’t sell yourself so short, Jasper,” Bellamy said, putting his arm over his shoulders. “That was a pretty good catch.”

Harper came up and put her arms around Jasper and Monty. “I say we celebrate our win and these two’s epic catches with some pie.”

“I wholeheartedly agree with my soul.” Raven said.

“I figured out what kind of drunk you are, Raven,” Anya said.

“What would that be?” she asked.

“Triple H.”

“What?” Lexa asked. Everyone was thoroughly confused.

“Hyper. Hungry. Horny.”

We all nodded and voiced our agreement.

 

***

 

We settled back down in my apartment and got our pie. We were back in the main room preparing to watch Spider-man: Homecoming. For all of us on the floor, we brought out every pillow I could find in my apartment, placing them on the ground. We created a massive bed and piled blankets on top. Lexa and I were snuggled under one blanket.

“If I were Peter Parker, I would scream to the world that I was spiderman,” Raven said.

“That would put a massive target on your back though,” Harper said.

“But I would get the girl,” Raven replied. “He’s dancing too much around her. Just go for it.”

“Yeah, I had the same feelings about someone a few months ago, except they still hesitated even though they lost a longboarding race and knew the terms of their loss,” Octavia said.

“I also watched that said person squirm in front of me for months, waiting for them to make a move,” Anya said, looking directly at Raven.

She held her hands up in surrender. “You know what? I get it, but I would’ve been more confident if I could climb up buildings like spiderman.”

They continued to bicker. Lexa and I weren’t really paying attention to them. Our hands were intertwined under the blanket my head was resting on her shoulder. “I was thinking,” I said, lifting my head to look at Lexa. “What if you’re secretly spiderman?”

Lexa had an amused grin. “What would make you think that?”

“You can probably fight like that and you can to really fast spinning kicks. What if you got bit by a spider?”

“Just because I can perform various types of kicks and know how to fight doesn’t mean I can spit webs from my wrists and climb buildings.”

“Who knows, maybe you are going to have Monty and Jasper make web stuff for you. Maybe when we aren’t together, you’re off swinging between buildings and saving people.”

“Maybe you’re posing as a med-student and have been working with Monty and Jasper to make your web stuff. Instead of studying for your next exam, you’re really off saving people.”

“Don’t turn this around on me. I had the suspicion first.”

“Fine. You know what? I am spiderman. I got bit by a spider when I was eleven.”

“Nah, you’re not spiderman. You would’ve karate chopped that spider before it could bite you.”

“Wha– I’m not even going to continue this argument.”

I kissed the frustration off her face and laughed. “You can be annoying in the best way possible sometimes,” she said.

“You’re not wrong,” I said, kissing her again.

“Ewww.” A pillow came flying at our heads forcing us to break apart. It came from Bellamy.

“Lexa shoot him with your webs,” I said.

“You just said– oh whatever.” She took the pillow and threw it back at him, nailing him directly in the face.

We finished the movie and put on another one. As the movie moved closer to its ending, everyone gradually started to leave. Raven and Anya were the first ones. Raven physically couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. Anya drove them both home. Next was Bellamy. He wanted to get home before he turned into Raven and couldn’t stay awake. Harper, Monty, and Jasper all left not long after. Lincoln and Octavia were the last to leave.

It was just Lexa and I. We were still laying on the ground in our pillow bed, watching the movie. We were fully laying down now with extra pillows supporting our heads. Although, at this point, I was supporting Lexa’s head. Her head was on my chest and her arm was thrown over my waist. I looked down at her and saw that she was fighting sleep. I rubbed her back to help her fall asleep. I don’t remember who fell asleep first. All I know is that it was some of the best sleep I had.   
  



	6. Christmas Decorating

I freaking hate Raven, and I hate myself for agreeing with her. I looked over the edge of the roof and saw a snow covered ground about twenty feet below. 

“Raven, if I fall off this roof, you’re paying my hospital bills,” Octavia said, walking cautiously across the slippery shingles with a handful of Christmas lights. 

“I second that,” I said, having a minnie heart attack as the snow gave away under my right foot.

“Don’t worry, Clarke is the hospital so we’re good,” Raven said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I sent a glare her way. 

“Okay, not in the joking mood. Got it. I’m still gonna make jokes though.” She took the lights from Octavia. “Trust me, your mom is going to love this, Clarke.”

Raven had the bright idea to secretly decorate my mom’s house while she was doing a shift at the hospital. I quickly agreed, thinking it would be fun and a pleasant surprise for my mom. I didn’t realize it would involve climbing up on the roof. I’m not really sure how Raven got us up here to be honest.

“Let’s just get this over with so we can return to the ground,” Octavia said.

“Good idea,” I said. “Raven should take point. She’s an engineer and this was her idea after all.”

“Yes, I’m the genius, of course. So, we’ll start by making rows at the top and then make our way down. I have a staple gun so I call stapling things. Clarke, you can stretch out the lights across the roof. Octavia…” She turned around to a box sitting behind her and pulled out a bunch of lights that were conveniently tangled into a giant sphere. “You can untangle these.” She shoved the sphere into Octavia. Octavia’s jaw dropped at the sight.

“If we weren’t on a roof, I would chuck this at you.” I had no doubt in my mind that Octavia was telling the truth. 

“Good thing we’re on a roof,” Raven said, smiling. “Alright let’s get to work.”

We got busy. Raven and I were working as a surprisingly good team, me laying down the lights, Raven walking down the row stapling the lights down every few feet. Octavia was off to the side cussing, trying to untangle the massive sphere.

“For crying out loud!” Octavia’s voice echoed off the neighbor’s houses and a few birds flew off nearby trees. She violently shook the lights around in desperation, hoping something would come loose. Low and behold, it worked. The end of a strand of lights fell to her feet. She laughed in triumph.

“Better hurry up, Octavia,” Raven said. “We’re about to run out of lights.”

“Maybe I will chuck this at you.”

“I’m not treating anyone,” I warned.

“Even more tempting,” Octavia said.

Octavia was genuinely frustrated with her delegated task. Raven was visibly amused with the whole situation. I was too, although I didn’t show it. I tend to try to stay in the middle of Raven’s and Octavia’s arguments. Someone had to calm them down every once in a while.

I decided to give her words of encouragement. “Octavia, you’re doing great.”

She suddenly yanked a strand free. “Alleluia! Praise the Lord!”

The good news was she got one untangled. The bad news was she was back at square one. We continued to work and when Raven and I would run out of lights to put down, we would help Octavia untangle some more.

We were on the last section of the roof, finishing up the last row when it all went wrong. Raven was shuffling along the edge of the roof, anchoring everything down when there was a rattling thud that came from below. We all looked up at each other with wide eyes.

“That better have not been what I think it was,” Octavia said.

We all cautiously moved to the edge of the roof and looked down. There was the ladder, laying flat on the ground twenty feet below us.

“Raven, I’m going to kill you,” I said.

“I didn’t think I was that close to the edge,” she explained.

“Well you were,” Octavia stated.

I sat back and Octavia followed. “What are we going to do now? We’re trapped,” I said.

“Don’t worry. I can probably create something to either get the ladder back up here or lower us safely down.”

Octavia and I looked at each other with doubt in our eyes.

“While you do that, I’ll see if I can get ahold of Lexa.” Raven wasn’t listening. She was already going through every possible thing she could possibly make from our resources up here.

I dialed Lexa’s number.

“Hey, Clarke. Not that I don’t want to talk to you, but I’m a little busy at the moment. Can I call you back in like twenty minutes?” She spoke to someone in the background, telling them that she would be right back.

“Uh… Well…”

“Is something wrong?” She sounded worried.

“Yes. Kind of. Not in an emergency kind of way...kinda. No one’s hurt if that’s what you mean.”

“Clarke, please make sense here.”

“Right. So Raven, Octavia, and I are stuck on a roof and could use some assistance.”

“What? Why are you on a roof?”

“That’s a story for another time, but the point is we’re stuck. Completely fine, but stuck.”

“Can you sit tight? I was in a meeting with someone about final touches on the gym. I can finish it up in a few minutes.”

Raven started voicing the first of many ridiculous ideas. “We can rip up a few strands of lights and tie them together, making like a Rapunzel let down your hair situation or like climbing out your bedroom window using bed sheets kind of situation.”

“What was that?” Lexa asked.

“Raven is suggesting climbing down with a couple strands of Christmas lights.”

“Send me the address. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” She hung up and I sent her the address.

“No, Raven. Lexa is coming to save us. All we have to do is sit tight.”

“But I can totally–”

“I’m waiting for Lexa,” Octavia asserted.

“I second that,” I said, laying back on top of the snow and lights.

We sat there for a few minutes, silently staring down the clear neighborhood street. It started to snow.

“Great,” Octavia grumbled.

We again sat quietly. I was still on my back with my eyes closed, letting the snowflakes hit my face. I peaked one of my eyes open when I heard the sound of snow hitting a jacket. Octavia thought it was a good idea to throw a snowball at Raven. A few seconds went by as Raven processed Octavia’s brave offensive attack. 

Suddenly Raven shot up, grabbing a handful of snow as she did, and Octavia stumbled away to the chimney to get cover.

“Guys. This is a bad idea.” No one paid any attention to me. They were too busy launching snowballs at each other.

I stood between them. “We are on a roof!” I ducked under a snowball thrown by Octavia. “There is very little chance that this will end well. Someone is going t–” I was nailed with two snowballs coming from both directions. Raven and Octavia stopped to stare at me in shock.

I wiped the snow off my face. “You are both so dead.”

Octavia took shelter behind the chimney while Raven scurried off in the opposite direction. Snow was flying in all directions. Raven was able to hit Octavia square in the face and just as she began to laugh, I threw a snowball straight into her opened mouth.

She coughed and fell to her knees. “My uvula is gone.”

“Good. Maybe you’ll stop snoring,” I said.

“I don’t snore.”

A snowball hit me in the middle of my back. I turned around to unleash my fury on Octavia, but Raven grabbed me. We both slipped and started sliding down to the edge of the roof. We were both yelling in terror. Octavia dove toward us, grabbing Raven’s hand. Our weight pulled Octavia down with us. We continued to descend. At the last second, I was able to loop my foot into one of the strands of lights. I held Raven up with me and Octavia slid to a stop on top of us. We were panting, looking at each other to make sure we were all okay.

“YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK!” A voice yelled from below.

Raven and I were still hugging each other and we lifted our heads up to see who was yelling at us. It was Lexa. I’m going to hear an earful later.

“We’re good!” I called down.

“Clarke Griffin, get your ass down here!”

I gulped.

“We’d come down if the ladder was put up!” Raven yelled. “If you’d be so kind to do so, we’d appreciate that!”

Lexa walked over to the ladder and positioned it so it leaned against the roof. Raven and I were the first ones down, followed by Octavia. 

I put my hand to my mouth, pretending like I was talking into a radio. I made a short static sound. “Houston, we have landed. I repeat we have landed. We’ve touched ground.” I ended with another static noise.

Raven did the same thing. “Major Griffin, we read you loud and clear. Welcome home.”

“We’re back bitches!” Octavia yelled.

“I can’t believe you guys,” Lexa said. “You were just moments away from falling off the roof, which by the way, I still don’t understand what is fully going on, and now apparently you’re astronauts.”

“Raven was ground control, actually. Someone has to supervise an astronaut’s return–” Lexa cut me off. “I don’t care what your roles were in that joke. I want to know what lead up to that situation.”

“Well, Raven had this great idea to decorate my mom’s house and surprise her,” I said. “This is my mom’s house by the way. It’s not some stranger’s house, just to be clear.”

“So we started decorating and everything was going fine until Raven knocked down the ladder,” Octavia told her.

“Then Clarke called you and Octavia threw a snowball at me,” Raven said.

“And all hell broke loose,” I concluded.

“It’s okay. Clarke’s a doctor,” Raven said.

“No, I’m not,” I quickly replied.

Lexa pinched the bridge of her nose. “For having such smart careers and high levels of education and sometimes intelligence, you guys can be stupid.”

“She’s not wrong,” Octavia said.

“For the record, I tried to stop it, but then I got double teamed,” I stated.

Raven interjected. “I was aiming for Octavia.”

“And I was aiming for Raven.”

“You just have a big head,” Raven said.

“Hey!”

“Guys!” Lexa yelled to get our attention. “Do you understand how stupid you were being? You all could’ve gotten seriously hurt. Next time think before you act. I am banning you from all roofs from now on. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am,” we all said at the same time.

“I’m going to talk to you about this later, Clarke. Don’t think you got off easy.”

I grumbled while Octavia and Raven laughed at me.

“But for now, I think we should finish decorating the yard,” Lexa finished.

Raven sighed in relief. “Oh thank God. She’s back to normal. Lexa, you can be really intimidating when you want to be. I prefer you this way more.”

“Thanks?”

“Alright team,” Raven said enthusiastically. “We have t-minus forty five minutes before Clarke’s mom gets home. Octavia, you and I will take the bushes and that tiny tree over there. Lexa and Clarke, you guys take that tree," She pointed to a fairly small tree in the middle of the yard. "and set up Santa and his reindeer.”

Lexa pulled out her phone and I brought my radio back. “We read you loud and clear, Houston.” I saluted her and she saluted back.

As Lexa and I walked over to the tree in the middle of the yard, I asked her, “How come Raven and Octavia don’t get scolded later like me?” I sounded like a little kid.

She had an amused smile on her face. “They will. I just told Anya and Lincoln what happened so they won’t be getting off easy either. Raven especially. Anya doesn’t sound too happy.”

I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading on my face. “I am sorry though. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“It’s okay. I just want you safe and please don’t be stupid.” She held my hands, warming them up from the cold. “I’m also sorry if I sounded like I wanted to brush you off earlier when you called. I didn’t mean to. At first I didn’t think you were in any immediate danger. Then you told me Raven’s idea and I remembered who you were stuck with. I knew something bad would happen so I came as fast as I could.” She began to untangle the lights that were in a much better state than the ones Octavia was working on earlier.

“Oh shoot. I forgot about that. I didn’t mean for you to have to cut your meeting short.”

“It’s fine. I got the important stuff out of the way. I can just email the rest of my concerns. Besides, if I didn’t come get you, by the time you found someone else to come, who knows what state all three of you would’ve been in.” She got both of them free and let one drop to the ground.

“Well, thank you. Raven most likely would’ve gotten us all killed.”

She pointed the lights at me as she spoke.“Now, if you are ever that stupid again and give me a heart attack like you almost did, I will tell your mom.” Her voice was serious and reminded me of a mom scolding a child.

I’ve told Lexa before that my mom tended to overreact to things, especially anything that crossed over or could potentially cross into the medical realm, such as getting injured from falling off a roof. If my mom found out, she would have a fit. I wouldn’t hear the end of this for weeks. Lexa knew this. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would.” We stared at each other daringly.

A smile broke out on Lexa’s face. “Scolding done.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “What? I was expecting a lot worse.”

“I decided to have mercy and I think me telling on you will be enough to deter you from future stupidity. You’ve done a lot worse anyway. Afterall, the first time I met you, you crashed in front of Anya’s car going at least forty miles an hour. I also think you know how dangerous that was.”

I laughed with relief. Lexa wrapped the lights around the back of my neck and pulled me toward her. I wrapped my arms around her waist. “And what kind of girlfriend would I be, if I went too hard and truly yelled at you? You’re too precious of a gift to lose.” She dropped the lights and instead held my jaw as she kissed me. I enjoyed the warmth of her lips. When she pulled back, I’m pretty sure I was blushing so hard that steam was coming off my cheeks.

“Come on, ladies!” Raven yelled from across the yard. “Stop smooching and get to work! Mama Griffin is going to be home soon!”

We broke apart and started hanging decorations on the tree. “I can’t wait to rub this in Raven’s face. Anya better record her scolding.”

Lexa laughed. “I’ll mention the idea to her.”

Lexa and I ended up finishing before Raven and Octavia. We even mounted a plastic Santa with his reindeer in the ground. Lexa and I, diving into our five year old selves, decided to build a snowman. I was rolling the bottom piece and it was starting to get too heavy. For a final roll, I jumped into it, my body rolling over top and flopping on the ground on the other side. I casually went into a snow angel to cover up my fall.

“You’re a child,” Lexa laughed.

“Says the other adult building a snowman.”

“Touch é.”

“You didn’t even admire my flawless cover up of falling.”

“My bad. It was great. Very smooth. I give it a nine point five out of ten.”

“Where’s my last point five?”

“Maybe if you added a flip or spin to spice it up, I would’ve given you a ten.”

“Okay Simon Cowell.”

Raven and Octavia could be heard arguing in the distance. “Raven! You wrapped the lights around me too.” This is the reason Lexa and I were already finished.

Lexa stacked the middle section on top of my part and I finished it with the head. 

“I wonder how many snowmen we could make before they finish,” I said.

“Probably a small army.” 

I looked to the sky. The sun was almost completely set. “They better hurry. My mom should be home any minute.”

The amused grin on Lexa’s face suddenly fell.

“What?” I asked.

“I just realized I’m going to meet your mom today. What if she doesn’t like me? Or thinks I smell weird?” Lexa was talking a mile a minute. “What if I don’t live up to her standards? Maybe she’ll throw me off her property or–”

I grabbed her shoulders and cut her off. “Lexa, you are an incredible human being and smell wonderful. My mom will love you.”

Right on cue, my mom drove up into the driveway just as Octavia plugged all the lights in. The whole house glowed as well as Santa and his reindeer. For some dysfunctional twenty something year olds, we did pretty well.

My mom stepped out of the car, her jaw dropped to the floor. “Oh my gosh, you guys. This is incredible.”

I started to make my way over to the driveway.

“Clarke.” Lexa’s voice was filled with worry.

“You’ll be fine,” I assured her. I gently took her hand, gave her a reassuring smile, and pulled her with me. 

My mom was still admiring her newly decorated house. “How did you do the lights on the roof? Did you hire someone?”

“Sure. Let’s go with that,” Raven said. My mom looked at her suspiciously. She knew Raven was lying.

She then looked to me and gave me a hug. “I haven’t seen you in a few weeks. How have you been?”

“Good. Busy.”

When she pulled back, she took notice of Lexa. Her smile got even wider. “Is this who I think it is?”

I nodded and introduced them. “Mom. Lexa. Lexa. Mom.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Griffin.” Lexa had a pleasant smile on and held out her hand.

“No need to be so formal. I’m a hugger by the way.” My mom gave Lexa a quick hug while mouthing to me  _ she’s cute _ . “And call me Abby. Mrs. Griffin makes me feel old. I’ve been dying to meet you. Clarke has told me so much about you. You’re all she talks about.”

“Mom,” I whined as a blush crept across my face.

“Let’s get you all inside. Who knows how long you’ve been out here in the cold.” My mom grabbed her work bag and led us inside.

The warmth felt so good. I didn’t realize how cold I was until I stepped inside. We shed our coats, gloves, hats, and boots by the front door and huddled up in the family room by the fire place my mom just turned on.

“Get warm while I make everyone some hot chocolate,” my mom told us.

“No, mom. I can make them. You just got home from work. Go change and settle in,” I said.

“I can help,” Lexa offered.

“Aw, thank you both.” As she walked up the stairs toward her room, she said, “There’s also some cookies on the counter that the neighbors brought over.”

“Yes!” Raven cheered. “Mama Griffin always coming in clutch with the food.”

Lexa and I walked into the kitchen. “See? That wasn’t so bad. You did great,” I said.

“I was shitting bricks.”

My laugh was so unexpected that I covered my mouth. “She’s one of the nicest human beings. You have nothing to worry about and I talked you up to her. Not even talked you up really. I told her the truth. She’s impressed by you.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so.” I pecked her lips because her worrying over impressing my mom was too cute. She smiled and I saw some of the tension leave her shoulders.

We brought out all our hot chocolates and cookies. Octavia groaned with pleasure as she sipped her drink.

“Who are these neighbors and why have I never met them?” Raven asked staring at her cookie like she was in heaven.

My mom popped around the corner. “They live a few houses down. I cleaned up one of their daughters’ scrapes when she fell off her bike once.”

I handed my mom her hot chocolate. “Thank you.” She took a sip. “So, Clarke, how’s school coming?”

“Fairly well. I’m glad to have a short winter break.”

She hummed in agreement. “Savor the moment. Do you need help with anything? Are you keeping up?”

“Yes. Everything is good. It’s a lot of work, but I can handle it. Thank you, though.”

“Good. What about you Lexa? Clarke’s told me about your new gym you’re opening up.”

Lexa immediately perked up. “It’s going well. I was just finishing up on some final touches today actually. It shouldn’t be too much longer before opening day.”

“That’s impressive, being an entrepreneur,” I nudged Lexa’s knee telling her I told you so. “and it had to have been a lot of hard work.”

“It was and still is. I saved up a lot of money to be able to buy my own place and invest in my own business. I had the right guidance, though. I had a lot of good people help me make this happen.”

“That’s really good and it’s nice to know that Clarke will have someone more than well equipped to protect her.”

Lexa blushed. “She’s strong enough on her own. I don’t think she’ll need much protecting from me.”

“Nah, Lexa. Give everyone who looks at her the wrong way a good ole karate chop,” Raven said.

“You would’ve already been karate chopped at least twenty times just today,” Lexa joked.

“Wait, I second Raven’s suggestion now,” Octavia said.

“And Raven, how’s your career going?” My mom changed the subject, feeling an argument coming on between Octavia and Raven.

“I think it’s going good.”

“You think?” Lexa asked.

“I’m thinking of switching from prosthetic designing to something to do with NASA.”

“If you become an astronaut, will you take me to space with you?” Octavia asked.

“I don’t think you two should live in such close quarters,” my mom said.

“We can be nice when we want to be,” Octavia said. “But I don’t know anything about piloting spaceships or space in general.”

“Wait, what do you do? I’ve never asked before,” Lexa said.

“I just started a new a job at a sports lab at Arkadia University about a half an hour from here. I get to test oxygen intake and lactic build up in student athletes and give them a workout program if they’d like.” 

“That’s so interesting,” my mom began. I zoned out the rest of the conversation because my mom went on some medical tangent. I already study enough and too much information has been crammed into my head these past months. When I’m taking time off, I want there to be the least amount of thinking as possible… I guess that’s how I found myself falling off a roof in Raven’s embrace.

Lexa was genuinely interested in the conversation, actively talking and asking questions. It made sense. She was an athlete. I prefered to focus on her at the moment. I soaked in every detail about her, her jaw line, her long wavy hair, the way her eyes lit up with interest, the way she smirked a little bit when Octavia and Raven would banter, the way she no longer clenched her knee with her hand when my mom’s attention was on her.

My mom really seemed to like Lexa. I was beyond happy to see them get along so well. This time when my mom went for a hug, Lexa was much more relaxed and comfortable with it. The worry that had been in Lexa’s eyes had completely vanished. 

We all got a goodbye hug along with extra cookies that we didn’t eat. Lexa had parked along the front curb. I walked her over. “You and my mom got along well. Hopefully you won’t be shitting bricks next time you see her.”

“I may have overreacted. You were right, she is the nicest person in the world. I learned so many things about my muscles today that I had no idea about.”

“Maybe if you helped me study more than you did, you would’ve already had all that knowledge.”

“Yes, but she dumbed it down and didn’t use all those big words that have no meaning to me.” I laughed.

I may have spent the last few hours with Lexa, but I wanted her to myself now. “Do you want to come over to my place now? I have many movies that are begging to be watched, an empty couch, and a craving for pizza.”

“That sounds great. I’ll follow you there.” She leaned in and gave me a kiss.

We broke apart to the sound of screeching tires. 

“Ow! Raven! Stop!” Octavia was backing out of the driveway when Raven flipped out and forced her to stop. Raven was forcing herself over Octavia, trying to get as close to the driver side window as she could.

“You told Anya?!” Raven’s question was directed at Lexa.

“It was unfair for only Clarke to get in trouble.” Lexa was very amused with Raven’s reaction.

Raven was about to start yelling, but Octavia rolled the window up and resumed backing out. As she put the gear in drive, the passenger window rolled down. “How could you betray me!” Raven yelled as Octavia drove down the street. We both laughed.

I got in my car. Just before I began backing out of the driveway, my phone vibrated. It was my mom.

 

**(8:30) Mom:**

_ I can’t wait to see her again! Bring her next time you visit. _

She ended it with a smiley face emoji.

 

Great. My mom likes my girlfriend more than me now. I looked back to Lexa who sat in her car looking at her phone.

I couldn’t really blame her.   
  



End file.
